Propeller for flying machines



Oct. 12 1926.

J. W. PITTS PROPELLER FOR FLYING MACHINES Filed Feb. 23, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 m m m T A Oct. 12 1926. 1,602,778

J. w. PITTS PROPELLER FOR FLYING MACHINES Filed Feb. 25. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 12. 1926.

PATENT OFFICE JOHN w. runs, or nn'rnorr, moment.

PROPELLER FOR FLYING MACHINES.

Application fled February 23, 1924. Serial No. 884,692.

This invention relates to flying machines and is more particularly directed to propellers for use with such machines.

An object of the invention is the rovision of a propeller adapted to be rotate and reciprocated and provided with blades radlatmg from a hub in spaced relation, with vanes adapted to close the spaces between the blades during one directional movement of reciprocation of the ropeller.

Another object of t e invention 1s the provision of a propeller so constructed which will cause an immediate vertical lift of an form of aerial car to which the propeller is attached.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a propeller so constructed which will exert a direct influence upon the descent of the aeroplane which it has lifted by controlling at will the velocity of the downward movement.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a pro eller havln a plurality of radiating bla es which w en pre sented to the air will produce the greatest amount of work with a minimum of friction.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a propeller of mushroom shape adapted to be reciprocated an'd simultaneously rotated and which also may be tilted radially at any angle desired.

This invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description, in view of the accompanying drawings forming a part of the specification {nevertheless it is to be understood that the invention is not confined to the disclosure, being susceptible of such changes and modifications which shall define no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawings 2-- Figure 1 is a view in perspective of the propeller construction in accordance with the principles of my invention.

Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section of the propeller taken along a diameter.

Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section of several blades of the propeller showing in detail the construction of the blades and hinged vanes.

Figure 4 is a detailed view in perspective of the several blades and vanes of the propeller.

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view of the propeller showing mechanism for reciproeating, rotating and oscillating the propeller.

Flgure 6 is a plan view of an aeroplane equlpped with one of my propellers.

Figure 7 is a plan view of an aeroplane equipped with three propellers constructed according to the principles of my invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, l designates a rod uponwhich a hub 2 is mounted for rotation. Bearings 3, 4 and 5 in the hub provide for ease of rotation of the hub on the shaft. The hub is locked against disengagement from the shaft 1 by a nut 6. The outer end of the hub, as shown at 7, is enlarged in the shape of two reversed cones having their hollow bases in engagement to provide a chamber of sulfic ent size to receive a tool for adjusting the nut 6 and maintain a suitable supply of 1grease. The outer end of the enlargement as an open end internally threaded to receive a cap nut 8, which, when removed, permits the insertion of a tool.

Blades 9 radiating from the enlargement 7 of the hub have inwardly projecting lugs 10 received within openings in said enlargement for fastening the inner ends of the blades in position. The blades have their greatest width at the hub and where the action of the blades on the air when the propeller is rotated, is least effective. The

lades at this point are inclined slightly to the vertical with the leading edge of the blades disposed slightly forward of the lower and trailing edge.

From the inner ends of the blades, each blade is gradually reduced in width to its outer end 11 and furthermore there is not only a change in width but a progressive change in the plane of the blade throughout its length so that the plane passing through the outer reduced end of the blade is at substantially a right angle to the plane of the inner end of the blades. This construction of the blades has the effect of presenting a surface of greatest width at the inner end of said blade to the air and where the action of the air provides the least resistance, thus requiring less power to rotate the propeller.

The position of the outer reduced end therefore merely presents an edge of the blade to the air.

Hingedly connected to each blade at the lower edge and depending therefrom is a vane 12 swinging freely from the blade and adapted to be acted upon by the air upon an inward or outward reciprocation of the propeller'as a unit. Inward and outward movement causes the vanes to close or open the spaces between the blades, the vanes being only restricted in their inward movements by a web of wire 13 secured in spaced relation to the lower edges of theblades.

These vanes are wide at their outer ends and taper towards their inner ends but are of suflicient width at any point along their length to not only close the spaces below pairs of the blades but to overlap at their free edges the lower edges of the next preceding or alternately disposed blade. The vanes therefore completely close the under face of the propeller at times.

rim 14L rigidly joins the outer free ends of the blades and maintains said ends in spaced relation. The web of wire 13 aids in reinforcing the radial position of the blades and cooperates with the rim for maintaining the spaced relation of said blades.

The propeller as a unit is. adapted to be rotated and reciprocated in line with the reciprocating rod 1 by a mechanism described and claimed in my copending application filed on the same date with the present application.

The rotary motion of the propeller tends to close the trailing vanes so that upon an inward reciprocatory movement of the propeller the blades will close entirely and thus present the entire surface of the propeller included within the circumference of the propeller to the action of the air, thus lifting the weight attached to the propeller. Upon the outward reciprocation of the propeller the vanes will be opened by the air, permitting the air to rush through the space between the revolving blades. The effect of the opening of the vanes, it will be seen, immediately removes a greater part of the resistance to the forward movement which would otherwise be produced if the vanes were incapable of movement or an inflexible surface were presented to the air upon the outward movement of the propeller.

Referring more particularly to Figure 5, one form of mechanism for rotating, reciprecating and radially oscillating the propel- .ler i shown, the rotating and reciprocating mechanism being claimed in a separate application for-patent filed by me of even date. The propeller is shown connected to the hub at the end of a hollow shaft 30 adapted to be rotated on the reciprocating rod 1 by a mechanism Wl'11Cl1 will be presently dewith the shaft 30 or the same may be a separate unit and secured to said shaft. The shaft is mounted for rotation on rod 1 and is reciprocated with the rod and both shaft and rod have their inner ends projecting into a casing 33 which is adapted to be revolved on its horizontal axis and which is mounted for revolution on a bearing 36 embracing the shaft 31 which is coupled to an internal combustion engine 32.. Other bearings for the housing or casing 33 will be presently described.

The casing 33 is cup-shaped and is formed within an integral bracket 3% carrying bearings 35, 42 and 56. Shafts 31, 40 and mc are respectively mounted in said bearings. Upon shaft 31 is secured gear 38 which meshes with gears 39 and 53. Gear 39. is rigidly connected with shaft and is adapted to drive said shaft. A crank arm carries a bracket at its upper end which supports gears 12? and mounted for retation with the respective shafts l4 and l3 which have bearings in the bracket carried by the arm 15. The gear 10 is rigidly connected with the bearing 42 on the bracket and is adapted to be maintained against rotation while gears 152 and 20 have a planetary motion about gear 10. The rotation of gear 20 causes rotation of shaft 43 which operates the crank arm 21 and crank 24 on said arm. Gear 25 rigid on crank 24x is in mesh with gear 26 and as the crank arm 21 is revolved, is adapted to cause rotation of gear 26. Gear 26 is rigid with hollow shaft 30 which causes rotation of shaft 30 and the propeller connected to the hollow shaft.

Depending from a bearing 28 on the crank arm 24: is an arm 27 which is pivotally connected with a crank 61 on the arm 30. Crank arm is integrally formed with the shaft 59 mounted in a bracket 18 connected with the upper end of the crank arm 57. A gear is rigid with shaft 59 and meshes with a gear 64 revolubly mounted in the bracket 48. A gear 63 is rigidly connected with a bearing 56 and maintained against rotation but has its axial diameter in line with the axial diameter of the shaft 56. Shaft 56 is rotated by a gear 53 meshing with gear 38. 1

The operation of the system of gearing and crank arms inst described is identical with the operation of the first mentioned system of gearing and crank arms.

The outer open face of the casing 33 is bearing on the upper end of bracket arm 88 which is connected to the engine 32 cooperates with bearings 35 and 36 for supporting the casing Furthermore these bearings are axially alined with the casing 33 and form scribed. The hub may be integrally formed the axis upon which said casing is revolved.

A worm wheel 7 3 on the shaft 71 is operated by a hand wheel 72 for rotating the gear wheel 69 and since the shaft 66 is rigid with cover 52, the casing 33 will be revolved whenever the worm wheel 69 is rotated.

'Crank arms 15 and 21 are of the same length and are rotated simultaneously with the crank arms 60 and 57 and as gear 64 revolves around the stationary gear 63 the arms 60 and 57 are rotated in a similar manner. Arms 60 and 57 are of the same length and are also equal in length with arms 15 and 21. Planetary gear 12 revolves around gear 10 causing rotation of gear 12* and the gear 20 and likewise revolution of the arms 15 and 21. Since the link 27 is connected with the cranks 24 and 61 of the two systems of gearing and cranks, the link 27 will be reciprocated in a vertical line and thereby cause reciprocation of the hollow shaft 30, rod 1, and the propeller Because of the relative movement of the crank arms 21, 15, 60 and 57 the gear 25 will cause rotation of the gear 26 and likewise rotation of the hollow shaft 30. It will be seen that a mechanism is employed by which the propeller may not only be rotated and reciprocated but operation of the hand wheel 72 causes rotation of the worm 73, gear 69 and housing 33 and oscillates the shaft 30, rod 1, and the propeller.

As the shaft 30 is moved upwardly, the propeller is moved upwardly and the vanes or valves 12 which are swingable from the under face of the mushroom form of propeller are forced 0 en by the air rushing through, not only because of the vacuum created behind the propeller but because of the movement of the propeller against the air. While the machine is in operation the vanes 12 will always tend to lie in a position which is at an acute angle to the plane surface of the propeller since the wind, as the propeller revolves, causes the vanes to tend to close. As soon as the shaft 30 has moved to its upper limit of throw the shaft will return and the action of the air against the vanes 12 will cause them to close and the downward pull of the propeller against the action of the wind will react to close the vanes 12 so that the propeller will tend to bank the air beneath it and raise the aeroplane to which the propeller has been attached rather than cause the actual descent or lowering of said propeller.

On the inward movement of the propeller a certain amount of head resistance is created by the propeller blades 9, nevertheless it must be understood that a resistance as little as possible affects the propeller and that substantially no resistance is had upon the outer face of the same.

To an aeroplane 80 a propeller 81 is shown connected to the forward end of the fuselage of the aeroplane for drivin the smaller planes. Larger planes are s own ative wheels 72 so that the shafts 30 are inclined forwardly will cause the propellers to force the air plane or airship to which the propellers are attached forwardly. The reverse angular position of the ropellers will cause rearward movement i the airship. If a (propeller at the rear of an airship is lncline rearwardly and the propeller at the opposite end of the airship 1s inclined forwardly, the airship will be maintained at a substantially stationary position.

It must be borne in mind that there are combined rotary and reciprocatory motions of the propellers at all times when the air ship is in the air so that the propellers are moving outwardly and back again while constantly revolving and as shown in Figure 7, the two end propellers act simultaneously in the same direction while the center propeller moves in opposition so an equilibrium is maintained at all times.

What I claim is 1. A combination rotating and reciprocating propeller comprising a plurality of blades radiating from a center and radially spaced from each other, and means adapted to close the spaces at times between the blades.

2. A combination rotating and reciproeating propeller comprising a plurality of blades radiating from a center and radially spaced from each other, and hinged means adapted to close the spaces at times between the blades.

3. A. combination rotating and reciprocating propeller comprisinga hub, a plurality of blades radiating from the hub and radially spaced from each other, and hinged means adapted to close the spaces at times between the blades.

4. A combination rotating and reciproeating propeller comprising a plurality of blades radiating from a center, each blade where meeting at the center presenting substantially its width to the air.

5. A combination rotating and reciprocating propeller comprising a plurality of blades radiating from a center, each blade where meeting at the center presenting sub stantially its width to the air, the outer ends of the blades being reduced in width.

6. A combination rotating and reciproeating propeller comprising a plurality of blades radiating from a center, each blade where meeting at the center presenting substantially its width to the air, the outer ends of the blades being reduced in width, and presenting an edge to the air.

'7. A combination rotating and reciproeating propeller comprising a hub, a lurality of blades radiating from said hu said blades being wider at their inner ends and being gradually reduced towards their outer ends, and progressively changing end to end from a substantially vertical plane to a substantially horizontal plane.

A combination rotating and reciproeating propeller comprising a hub, a pluralof blades radiating from said hub, said blades being wider at their inner ends and being gradually reduced towards their outer ends, and progressively changing end to end from a certain plane to a plane at substantially right angles to the first mentioned plane.

2. combination rotating and reciproeating propeller comprising a hub, a plurality of blades radiating from said hub, said blades being wider at their inner ends and being gradually reduced towards their outer ends, said blade throughout a portion of its length gradually changing its plane of position transversely of its width, the remainder of the blade being located in a plane at substantially a right angle to the first mentioned portion.

10. A combination rotating and reciprocating propeller comprising a hub, a rim, a plurality of blades radiating from said hub and connected at their outer ends to the rim, said blades being wider at their inner ends and being gradually reduced towards their outer ends and progressively changing end to end from a substantially vertical plane to a substantially horizontal plane.

A combination rotating and reciprocating propeller comprising a plurality of blades radiating from a center and radially spaced from each other, and hinged means adapted to close the spaces at times between the blades, said hinged means being gradually reduced in width from their outer ends to their inner ends.

neoawa 12. A combination rotating and reciprocating propeller comprising a pluralit of blades radiation from a center, and radially spaced from each other, and hinged means adapted to close the spaces at times between the blades, means engaged by the hinged means to limit movement of the hinged means.

13. A combination rotating and reciprocating propeller comprising a pluralit of blades radiating from a center and radially spaced from each other, and hinged means adapted to close the spaces at times between the blades, and means carried by blades to limit movement of the hinged means. 14:. A combination rotating and reciprocating propeller comprising a plurality of blades radiating from a center and radially spaced from each other, and hinged means adapted to close the spaces at times between the blades, a web oi wire adapted to engage the hinged means to limit the movement of the hinged means.

15. A combination rotating and reciprocating propeller comprising a plurality of blades radiating from a center and radially spaced from each other, and hinged means adapted to close the spaces at times between the blades, a web of wire carried by the urn der face of the blades to limit movement of the hinged means.

16. A combination rotating and reciprocating propeller comprising a rim, a hub centrally disposed of the rim, a plurality of blades secured to the hub and radiating therefrom in spaced relation, a depending vane hinged to the under face of each blade and adapted to close at times the space between the blades.

17. A. combination rotating and reciprocating propeller comprising a rim, a hub centrally disposed of the rim, a plurality of blades secured to the hub and radiating therefrom in spaced relation, a depending vane hinged to the under face of each and adapted to close at times the space between the blades, said vanes being gradually reduced in width from their outer ends to the inner ends adjacent the hub.

JOHN W. PlTTS. 

